HS2 -the railway that blew billions - Panorama 16 September

[whole diary]

[TaplowGreen]

Worth a watch I would imagine...........

[TaplowGreen]

Worth a watch I would imagine...........

Just a reminder-8pm tonight on BBC1

[ChrisB]

Any good, or sensationalist?

[TaplowGreen]

Any good, or sensationalist?

I thought it was pretty good and didn't spare anyone's blushes. HS2^▸ (The next High Speed line(s)) managers being told to keep quiet and sacked for highlighting cost increases. Minister's misleading Parliament on the same issue. The absurdity of appointing Oakervee to lead a review, and his deputy who was appointed to give some balance describing HS2 Ltd as "a complete shower".

Compulsory purchase system unfair and leaving many much worse off.

The effect the obsession with speed had on increasing cost, and a point I hadn't really considered made by Andrew Gilligan that given the relatively short distances between our major cities, such speed isn't necessary.......oh if only the emphasis/spin had been more on capacity rather than speed, cost and opposition could have been so much lower.

Adonis came out of it OK-ish and I must admit I hadn't realised that Cameron had been so keen.

There was also a good point that without the extension to Euston, the trek out to Old Oak from Central London removes any time saving to Birmingham

The last word went to Boris (as so often!) however, when talking to a schoolboy who was interviewing him on the subject - "when you're in a hole that deep, you have to keep digging".

[ChrisB]

So no railwaymen were involved in the making of this programme then? Says it all, frankly, as does Andrew Gilligan's involvement (always was an anti)

[Red Squirrel]

I was expecting this to be more of a hatchet-job than it turned out to be. A lot of the criticisms of HS2^▸ (The next High Speed line(s)) Ltd seem fair. One point that stood out for me was the line speed: having just travelled across France by train at 320km/h, I wonder whether a design speed of 400km/h was really necessary. Or have I missed something?

My take was that the programme didn’t dispute that the line was necessary; it just felt that it could have been done a lot better. Which, of course, like anything, it could.

[TaplowGreen]

I was expecting this to be more of a hatchet-job than it turned out to be. A lot of the criticisms of HS2^▸ (The next High Speed line(s)) Ltd seem fair. One point that stood out for me was the line speed: having just travelled across France by train at 320km/h, I wonder whether a design speed of 400km/h was really necessary. Or have I missed something?

My take was that the programme didn’t dispute that the line was necessary; it just felt that it could have been done a lot better. Which, of course, like anything, it could.

I think that's a very fair assessment.

The point about speed is very interesting and it was telling that the programme discussed routes available which had been identified and which went around, rather than cutting straight through the Chilterns (albeit sacrificing some speed) which would have saved an awful lot of money and avoided a lot of protests.